Black Lives Matter 2017: Confederate Flag Grab On Live TV Leads To Charges For South Carolina Activist

The activist who leapt and snatched a Confederate flag from a demonstrator on live TV in Charleston, South Carolina, was released from custody Thursday after authorities charged him with disorderly conduct and damage to personal property.

Muhiyidin Elamin Moye, 31, who prefers the last name d'Baha, took a running leap through some police tape and briefly wrestled a Confederate battle flag from a member of the South Carolina Secessionist Party Wednesday before he was subdued by police outside an event at the College of Charleston. The whole sequence was caught on live TV by the local CBS affiliate, and the footage quickly went viral.

d'Baha, a Black Lives Matter activist, appeared in court Thursday via a live video stream. After being caught on camera, he tapped his temple with one finger and raised a fist in the air, Charleston's Post and Courier reported. The paper reported that d'Baha was released on a personal recognizance bond and would only be required to pay a $2,382 fee if he failed to appear at his next scheduled court date.

The incident occurred at an event featuring another activist who made headlines by taking down a Confederate flag in South Carolina. On Wednesday, Bree Newsome, arrested in 2015 for climbing a pole and removing the Confederate flag from the grounds of the South Carolina Statehouse, spoke at the Sottile Theatre at the College of Charleston. Newsome's appearance was what led members of the South Carolina Secessionist Party to fly the flag in protest outside the event, prompting more d'Baha and more than a 100 counterprotesters to demonstrate against the group.

“I looked at our elders and I saw, like, fear in their eyes,” d'Baha told the Washington Post. “And I saw them back up, almost. That was the moment for me. We’re not going to pass this on another generation. Not another generation of people are going to be intimidated by this flag.”

The man holding the flag, James Bessenger, 28, told the Post he had been holding the flag on a 20-foot pole for five minutes before d'Baha struck.

“I straightened the flag out and held it back up,” Bessenger told the Post. "[d'Baha] accomplished absolutely nothing, except spending the night in jail, and now he’s going to have to buy me a new pole. Well done.”

Last year, d'Baha appeared in a CBC short on the killing of Walter Scott, a black man, by North Charleston, South Carolina police officer Michael Slager.

“Having a national identity is still something we’re hunting for,” d’Baha said. ”Unfortunately we can’t say we’re American if we don’t get to experience the freedom, the liberty and the equity of that. “